Kenneth Sherman
by George J. Dance Kenneth Sherman (born 1950) is a Canadian poet and academic.Kenneth Sherman: Biography, Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, June 29, 2018. Life Sherman was born in Toronto in 1950. He began writing poetry at age 12. As he recounts it: :I was 12 years old and our English teacher had read Emily Dickenson’s poem, "Because I Could Not Stop For Death." It had a huge impact on me, hearing that poem. I was walking home from school — it was a cold wintry day — and I found lines just coming and welling up inside of me. When I got home I ran upstairs and wrote out the lines and I had my first poem.”Bill Gladstone, "Profile: Toronto poet-essayist Kenneth Sherman, December 6, 2011, BillGladstone.ca. Web, June 29, 2018. He earned a B.A. from York University, where he studied with Eli Mandel and Irving Layton, and co-founded and edited a literary journal, WAVES. He earned an M.A. in English literature from the University of Toronto. He began his teaching career in 1975 at York's Atkinson College. In 1982, he was writer-in-residence at Trent University. In 1986 he was invited by the Chinese government to lecture on contemporary Canadian literature at universities and government institutions in Beijing. In 1988, he received a Canada Council grant to travel through Poland and Russia. Sherman lives in Toronto with his wife, Marie, an artist, and their 2 children. He is a full-time faculty member at Sheridan College, Oakville, where he teaches humanities and communications; he also teaches creative writing at York. He has authored 3 books of prose and 10 books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed long poems, "Words for Elephant Man" and "Black River."Vallum Poem of the Week: “Northern Lake” by Kenneth Sherman, Vallum: Contemporary Poetry, October 23, 2017. Web, June 29,. 2018. After being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2010,"A Traveller in the Land of Cancer," Canadian Jewish News, May 19, 2016. Web, June 29, 2018. Sherman began keeping a notebook, which he turned into a memoir, Wait Time: A memoir of cancer.Jennifer Hunter, "Poet Kenneth Sherman brings illness out of the shadows," Toronto Star, June 6, 2016. Web, June 29, 2018. Writing His influences include Dickenson, A.M. Klein, Leonard Cohen, Albert Camus, and Ernest Hemingway He considers Irving Layton a mentor. Quotations “God owes each of us a second life, so we can read all the great books that we’re not going to read in this lifetime." Publications Poetry *''Snake Music''. Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press, 1978. *''The Cost of Living''. Oakville, ON: Mosaic Press / Valley Editions, 1981. *''Black Flamingo''. Oakville, ON, & New York: Mosaic Press, 1985. *''The Book of Salt''. Ottawa, ON: Oberon Press, 1987. *''Jackson's Point''. Ottawa, ON: Oberon Press, 1989. *''Open to Currents''. Toronto: Wolsak & Wynn, 1992. *''Clusters: Poems''. Oakville, ON, & Buffalo, NY: Mosaic Press, 1997. *''The Well: New and selected poems''. Toronto: Wolsak & Wynn, 2000. *''Black River''. Erin, ON: The Porcupine's Quill, 2007. *''Words for Elephant Man''. Erin, ON: The Porcupine's Quill, 2012. *''Jogging with the Great Ray Charles''. Windsor, ON: Black Moss, 2016. Non-fiction *''Void and Voice: Essays on literary and historical currents''. Oakville, ON, & Buffalo, NY: Mosaic Press, 1998. *''What the Furies Bring''. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 2009. *''Wait Time: A memoir of cancer''. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016. Edited *''Relations: An anthology of family poems''. Oakville, ON, & New York: Mosaic Press, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Kenneth Sherman 1950, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, June 29, 2018. See also *List of Canadian poets References External links ;Poems *"Northern Lake" at Vallum: Contemporary Poetry *Kenneth Sherman profile & 6 poems at Canadian Poetry Online ;Proxe *"Poetry and prose offer different ways to deal with illness" ;Books *Kenneth Sherman at Amazon.com ;About *"A Traveller in the Land of Cancer," Canadian Jewish News *"Poet Kenneth Sherman brings illness out of the shadows" interview, Toronto Star, 2016 Category:1950 births Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:English-language poets Category:People from Toronto Category:Poets